


The Birds

by Ambrose



Series: Dare to Write Challenge [6]
Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 16:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8453188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambrose/pseuds/Ambrose
Summary: Artie comes back to a Warehouse invaded by hummingbirds





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Grumpy_Grizzly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grumpy_Grizzly/gifts).



"What _happened_?" Artie groaned. 

"Nothing." Claudia said, as innocently as she could. She had never been a great liar, however. You'd think years of institutionalization would have honed her skills, but Artie always knew when she did something she shouldn't have. Maybe he had eyes all around the warehouse... They did have cameras, but could he access them remotely? Now was not the time to wonder, though, since Artie was staring her down like the child he'd never understand she no longer was.

"Nothing? Then why is there a flock of hummingbirds in my warehouse?"

"Well, technically, not your Warehouse," Claudia attempted, but being Future-Caretaker did not afford her any privileges with him. Problem was, he would probably not believe the true story.

"Claudia." 

"Fine, fine. So you see, Steve and I went to the local pet shop to get food for Pete the ferret, since Myka and the real Pete are gone and I'm petsitting him for her, and, well, I ran out of food, please stop sending them after pings on grocery day by the way, and, well, they had all these birds, and you know how Myka says the animals there don't look very happy, well, I took pity on them and I bought these babies. Only we came back and realised we didn't have a cage and..."

"Claudia. You expect me to believe you bought a thousand hummingbirds in Univille's pet shop?"

"No, see, that's the thing. There were half a dozen. And we needed a cage, because they weren't very happy in the box they were sold in, and we were already at the B&B so... Anyways, there was this cage on the shelves, and someone has done a terrible job of labelling, because it had no side effects listed. So we figured this was here just in case and it wouldn't hurt..."

"How long have you been working here again?"

"Not as long as you, _grandpa_. Anyway, it turns out the cage is Schieffelin's, some bird-crazy guy who transported starlings in it from Europe - and they invaded the country in flocks. And since that's precisely what he wanted, well, it seems that damn cage multiplies any bird placed in it, and by the time we could get them all out of it... On the positive side," she went on before Artie could start reprimanding her, "we've just singlehandedly saved a whole endangered species of hummingbirds." And of course Steve had to leave her to deal with Artie while he called the USDA to take care of the situation. What kind of pet shop sells endangered species?! "... We just have to catch them all again, and find a way to smuggle them into Mexico..."

Artie sighed. "Fine, _Fine!_  I'll see what I can find to attract them. I think there was _something_..." Artie disappeared into the aisles of the warehouse, grumbling, "I'm too old to play pokemon", while the humming of the birds' wings above them gave the warehouse a different atmosphere. 

Maybe if Artie was busy enough dealing with the birds, Claudia could get away with not telling him about the artefacts they activated when they left the cage... At least she did manage to get _that_  under control before Artie came back... She was getting better at this job!

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to prompt me for more fics at http://ghost-hermione.tumblr.com/prompting


End file.
